MALWARE FAMILY

Retefe

Internal ID: apk.retefe

aliases

Last seen:Mar 17, 2026

Intelligence Profile

The Android app using for Retefe is a SMS stealer, used to forward mTAN codes to the threat actor. Further is a bank logo added to the specific Android app to trick users into thinking this is a legitimate app. Moreover, if the victim is not a real victim, the link to download the APK is not the malicious APK, but the real 'Signal Private Messenger' tool, hence the victim's phone doesn't get infected.

Threat Analysis

Retefe is a malware family tracked by threat intelligence researchers and catalogued in the Malpedia dataset. It represents a distinct malicious software lineage with identifiable code characteristics, behaviors, and victimology.

External References

→http://blog.dornea.nu/2014/07/07/disect-android-apks-like-a-pro-static-code-analysis/

→http://maldr0id.blogspot.ch/2014/09/android-malware-based-on-sms-encryption.html

→http://blog.angelalonso.es/2015/10/reversing-c2c-http-emmental.html

→http://blog.angelalonso.es/2015/11/reversing-sms-c-protocol-of-emmental.html

→https://www.govcert.admin.ch/blog/33/the-retefe-saga

→http://blog.angelalonso.es/2017/02/hunting-retefe-with-splunk-some24.html

Quick Facts

TypeMalware Family

Aliases1

Also Known As

apk.retefe

Research Links

MITRE ATT&CK VirusTotal Google (news) Twitter/X search

Data sourced from Malpedia, Ransomware.live, RansomLook, and CTIWATCH OSINT collection. Actor attribution is based on available intelligence and may be incomplete.

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